NBPTS to Partner on Nationwide Project to Identify and Measure Effective Teaching

National Board Standards and assessment processes to be used to study what works in classroom instruction

ARLINGTON, Va., June 22 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS) -- the independent organization that provides National Board Certification for U.S. teachers -- today announced its participation in the Measures of Effective Teaching project, a national effort to help educators and policymakers identify and support good teaching. As part of its involvement, NBPTS will utilize its widely respected National Board Standards and assessment processes to confidentially evaluate videos of classroom instruction -- one of six types of data being collected by researchers for the project. A $1.2 million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation will fund the NBPTS work.

"The Measures of Effective Teaching project relies on a first-of-its-kind, rigorous methodology that evaluates the full range of what teachers do, including the context in which they teach," said Joseph A. Aguerrebere, NBPTS president and chief executive officer. "Incorporating the National Board's proven standards and assessment processes to evaluate video data is a natural fit, and we are pleased to bring our experience and resources to bear in this landmark effort."

NBPTS-trained evaluators will score a sample of teacher videos from participating districts and classrooms using the National Board's observational rubrics for English-Language Arts and mathematics instruction.

"This partnership will enrich the data that are so essential to understanding what works in the classroom," said Vicki L. Phillips, director of education, college-ready, at the Gates Foundation. "In using the NBPTS' widely respected rubrics, researchers will be incorporating standards long recognized by the teaching profession in order to gain greater insights into teacher effectiveness and, ultimately, help teachers to improve their skills and drive student achievement."

In addition, with the grant from the Gates Foundation, NBPTS will design and implement a three-year study to evaluate the efficacy of Take One!, a professional development program administered by NBPTS, as a whole-school approach to improve teacher effectiveness in low-performing schools.  

Take One! seeks to improve teaching practice by developing learning communities organized around the National Board Standards and linking effective instruction to student learning. The program can be used by any educator as a stand-alone professional development tool or by licensed teachers as an initial step in becoming candidates for National Board Certification.

"Our goal is to identify a professional development process that can be effectively scaled across districts in order to help teachers improve their practice and raise achievement in their classrooms," said Joan Auchter, NBPTS chief program officer.

For more information about NBPTS and National Board Certification, visit www.nbpts.org.

For more information about the Measures of Effective Teaching project, visit www.gatesfoundation.org.

About the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards

NBPTS, an independent, nonprofit organization, advances the quality of teaching and learning by developing professional standards for accomplished teaching; creating and administering National Board Certification, a voluntary system to certify teachers who meet those standards; and integrating certified teachers into educational reform efforts. National Board Certification, for veteran teachers, is a 10-part performance assessment that includes video portfolios, analysis of classroom practice and evaluation of content knowledge.

In 2009, nearly 8,900 teachers nationwide achieved National Board Certification, bringing the total number of teachers and counselors certified by NBPTS to more than 82,000. A new NBPTS program, National Board Certification for Principals, is the first national certification program for school-based administrators. It is the first phase of an expanded program, National Board Certification for Educational Leaders, which will also lay the groundwork for a new teacher leader certification.

About the Measures of Effective Teaching Project

The goal of the Measures of Effective Teaching project is to help educators and policymakers identify and support good teaching by improving the quality of information available about teacher practice. With funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, independent education researchers, in partnership with school districts, principals, teachers, and unions, will work to develop a fair and reliable measure of effective teaching. The project seeks to take into account the full range of what teachers do and the context in which they teach by going beyond the exclusive use of student assessments as a proxy for effectiveness and, instead, developing a set of measures that together serve as an accurate indicator of a teacher's impact on student achievement.

SOURCE National Board for Professional Teaching Standards